Guest Reviewers

The guest reviewers at HeatEatReview.com are usually one-time review volunteers.

Latest Reviews by Guest Reviewers:

Kahiki Teriyaki Chicken

August 17, 2007 | Reviewer: Guest Reviewers

Kahiki Teriyaki Chicken Price: $2.50
Serving: 1 package, 11oz.
Calories: 310
Fat: 6%, 4g
Cholesterol: 12%, 35mg
Sodium: 62%, 1490mg
Protein: 15g
Carbs: 16%, 49g
Fiber: 7%, 2g

Kahiki says: Chicken meat, steamed rice, and vegetables in a sweet Teriyaki sauce

Kelly says: Kahiki doesn’t make promises it can’t keep. This sweet, sweet, sweet meal features chicken and vegetables dripping in teriyaki sauce. There’s plenty of chicken and vegetables, but the sauce was so overpoweringly bland that I’m sort of scared to try other things in the same brand family.

I’m also worried that I’ll become a diabetic from eating the sauce. It is that sweet.

The steamed veggies included carrots and water chestnuts and light colored vegetables I was unable to identify. Yeah, it is a bit sad when you can’t ID your own food. I am a brocolli-lover, so I was happy to get five good-size florets. It is just too bad that the picture shows approximately twice as much chicken and half as much carrot as I was provided in reality.

Another plus? I like getting rice with my meals (I know, it is a waste of money to buy frozen rice), so I was happy to see that Kahiki does pretty well with white rice. However, plain white rice shouldn’t be the centerpiece of a meal.

There’s plenty of food here and I didn’t finish the entire meal, but I don’t know if that was because I was full or just sick of the sugary sauce they called Teriyaki. What I do know is if I ever ate this at a place claiming to be an Asian restaurant, I’d probably never return.

Having said that, the experience probably won’t keep me from giving the brand another try, so long as it is on sale. But I’m adventurous and perhaps you’re not.

Filed Under Chicken, Kahiki Reviews, Two Stars | 3 Comments

Eating Right Beef Portobello

July 13, 2007 | Reviewer: Guest Reviewers

Eating Right Beef Portobello Price: $2.50 (sale)
Serving: 1 entreé, 9 oz.
Calories: 260
Fat: 9%, 6g
Cholesterol: 8%, 25mg
Sodium: 23%, 550mg
Protein: 16g
Carbohydrates: 12%, 36g
Fiber: 10%, 3g
Weight Watchers Points: 5 Weight Watchers Points

Eating Right says: Tender beef with mushrooms served with roasted potatoes and broccoli

Lindsy says: Now, I’m not your typical meat and potatoes girl. That’s my dad’s schtick and I had enough of it while I was growing up. However while I was perusing the freezer aisle of my local Safeway the word ‘portobello’ spoke to me when I scanned past this box and into my cart it leaped.

As I stood in the kitchen, I couldn’t say that these meal gave off any definable smells and I wondered if I had gone astray in my food choice. Once I removed the tray from the microwave, I was disappointed to see a paltry three broccoli florets inhabiting that section of my tray. Instead of devouring the broccoli immediately, I decided I would begin by tasting the beef. I was pleased when it turned out rather delicious and beef-like. It was not too chewy, not to hard, but instead had a nice medium-well (what more can you expect from the microwave?) flavor. Goldilocks would have enjoyed the beef. The gravy was also pretty delicious, a little on the salty side but good nonetheless. HOWEVER, there were no portobellos in sight! By the end of my meal I think I had discovered one tiny (read: the size of a pencil eraser) morsel of mushroomy goodness.

As for the potatoes, I don’t know if roasted is the appropriate definition for them. To me a roasted potato is deliciously crispy on the outside with limited inside soft potato texture. These potatoes were neither crispy nor roasted. They were more like mysteriously golden potato chunks. They had the grainy microwaved potato texture to them and were pretty mushy. In retrospect, I should have turned them into mashed potatoes using the left over gravy from my beef. Hindsight, alas.

Overall, this was a pretty decent meal, with lots of different flavors and a good amount of food. I got 30 percent of the recommended daily value of iron and 50 percent on the vitamin C. Not too shabby

Filed Under 5 WW Points, Beef, Eating Right Reviews, Four Stars | 8 Comments

A Taste of India Masala Rice & Lentils

May 1, 2007 | Reviewer: Guest Reviewers

A Taste of India Masala Rice Lentils

Price: $3.49
Serving: 1/2 package, 3 oz.
Calories: 270
Fat: 10%, 6g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0 mg
Sodium: 28%, 680mg
Protein: 5g
Carbs: 16%, 47g
Fiber: 15%, 3g

A Taste of India says: Enjoy real Indian cuisine anytime, anywhere. We’ve included all the ingredients and flavors. Just microwave and eat, in one container!

Amanda says: I should start off by saying that I am a huge fan of Indian food. I say this because some people simply aren’t, and therefore would dislike just about any heat and eat Indian style meal put in front of them. So I wanted to like this meal. I wanted to like it because finding a new favorite quick and easy lunch meal is like my own personal Eureka! moment where Archimedes comes out of his grave and we high five reveling in the discovery. This meal, however, is a disappointment.

The ingredients list includes (but is not limited to): jasmine rice, pink lentils, onion, ginger, garlic, garam masala, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, bay leaf, red chili and coconut milk powder. “Masala” in Indian foods refers to the spice blend used to flavor it, in other words, this box could read: Spiced Indian Rice and Lentils. So the “garam masala” on the ingredients list is essentially the most important when it comes to how this meal should taste. Thanks to our friend Wikipedia, I can tell you that Garam masala’s literal meaning is “hot (or warm) spice” and, interestingly enough, pretty much consists of all of the flavors listed separately on the package: cardamom, garlic, ginger, turmeric, bay leaves, cumin etc. So, assuming you are like me and really dig the blend of this seasoning, it sounds delicious!

But here’s the truth: the flavor is delicate, but boring, and completely devoid of any hint of warmth or intense spice. I got the feeling that while this company wants you to have a “Taste of India” they’re nervous that you won’t like it, so at the last minute they removed most of the Indian-ness from the meal and stuck with bland sweetness. There’s simply too much cinnamon and too much coconut milk powder. The rice fluffs up and fills the container a good bit- but is slightly dry and gritty. It’s a subtle fault for microwave instant rice; but because the rice comprises the entire meal, it’s sort of hard to get past. There was absolutely no discernable need for the lentils. There were maybe fifty tiny lentils in the entire meal and I couldn’t tell you anything about any of them. They were there, but I’m not sure why.

I also get really frustrated with companies whose meals consistently come as “2 servings” in one package. If this package of Masala Rice and Lentils is supposed to be shared between two people, why do we heat and eat out of the same box and advertise that as its great achievement? Typically when I come across a meal that’s really 2 in 1, I eat the entire thing because I’m not full otherwise. But this was a lot of rice. I got most of the way through it because I was hungry but towards the last 3/4 cup of rice I just kind of felt like letting it all fall out of my mouth right there onto my keyboard, and maybe moaning a little bit or whimpering pathetically because I was just tired of it- the grit, the sweetness, the mystery lentils. Since my office though, is right up front with two huge windows looking in on me, I instead opted to chew and swallow for the last time tossing the remained in the trash.

I give this meal 2 stars for trying to offer the heat and eat world something different, but hope they’ll go back to the drawing board and adjust the flavors. I mean, if you’re going to advertise yourself as giving us a Taste of India, let’s have it.

Thanks to Abi Jones for sending this meal my way.

Filed Under Cholesterol Free, International Foods, No Freezer Needed, Taste of India Reviews, Two Stars, Vegetarian | 2 Comments

Lean Cuisine Shrimp and Angel Hair Pasta

April 20, 2007 | Reviewer: Guest Reviewers

Lean Cuisine Shrimp and Angel Hair Pasta

Price: $3.29
Serving: 1 Package, 10 oz.
Calories: 240
Fat: 7%, 4.5g
Cholesterol: 18%, 55mg
Sodium: 25%, 600mg
Protein: 15g
Carbs: 12%, 35g
Fiber: 8%, 2g
WW Points: 5

Lean Cuisine says: Shrimp and angel hair pasta in a creamy seafood sauce with accents of sherry, tossed with red peppers.

Amanda says: No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. NO. Do not buy this meal. If it is currently in your freezer waiting to appease your next shrimp craving: THROW IT OUT. If you cannot return it to the grocery store you unfortunately bought it from and can’t stand the thought of throwing your hard earned income into the waste basket, GET OVER IT. Do not heat and serve to any unsuspecting pets. Their magical sixth sense will inform them of the trauma you are trying to inflict upon them and they will in turn become rabid and attack you viciously. And rightfully so! This meal is AWFUL.

I removed the package from the cardboard and began poking fork holes into the overwrap to vent as instructed. I then inserted the meal into the microwave for 3 minutes and 35 seconds. Lean Cuisine gave me a choice of cooking time; anywhere from 2-4 minutes. This made me nervous. Shouldn’t they know how long to cook this meal? 2-4 minutes? We have to guess? So after the 3 minute and 35 second mark, I removed the dish from the microwave, ripped off the overwrap and then stared down dissapointedly at 5 slimy, silver shrimp. SLIMY. SILVER. SHRIMP. They weren’t cooked at all! So I decided to nuke them a little longer. 2 minutes longer for a total cooking time of 5 minutes and 35 seconds.

The shrimp curled themselves and turned pink. The sauce bubbled and thickened slighty; an orange tinted variety with sticks of carrots and red pepper slivers. The noodles were thin and seemed plentiful. It didn’t look THAT BAD. So, for you review readers, I took a bite of the pasta. And I’m telling you- I wish I hadn’t. It was really, really bad. Take the scent of old, rubbery shrimp and turn that into a flavor. Then turn that flavor into the very essence of a strange sauce. Pretend to accent the strange sauce with sherry but really just add more atrocious shrimp stink. Then throw in actual old, rubbery shrimp and VOILÁ! you’ve got the worst Lean Cuisine meal I have ever had. I took one more bite of the pasta and I actually ate one of the shrimp just to see if I was being overly critical. I was not. And this is out of the mouth of a woman who unabashedly removes mold from the edges of her sharp cheddar cheese blocks and keeps on keepin’ on.

I slid the “meal” back into it’s cardboard box and tossed it into the trash. I then promptly phoned my boyfriend and asked him to please, please, PLEASE bring me something edible to eat and quickly; anything to get the taste of old shrimp boat captain’s galoshes out of my sad, sorry mouth.

Filed Under 5 WW Points, Fish, Lean Cuisine Reviews, Zero Stars | 35 Comments